RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a carry bag with a pouch insert, magnetic fasteners, and interchangeable covers, particularly handbags, diaper bags, briefcases, knapsacks, and tote bags.
2. Background Information
With the diversification of the roles of women over the past few decades, fashion has changed to meet the needs of the career woman who is also a mother and homemaker. In times past, women would change their purses to match their outfits and the occasion. Women today for the most part are not inclined to sacrifice the extra time it takes to transfer the contents of their purses several times a day in order to coordinate their purse to their outfit or the occasion. Also, handbags today can be expensive, and having a handbag for each outfit or occasion is prohibitively expensive for the majority of women. It is nevertheless often still necessary to switch purses, as when converting from casual clothes or office gear to evening wear.
One handbag-related problem recognized many years ago is the soiling of handbag exteriors. Purse inserts with buttonholes to match buttons in exterior coverings were created so that the exterior covering could be removed, laundered, and replaced. It was later found that this allowed the user to switch between similar but different colored exterior coverings. Problems related to changing purses to go with one""s outfit or shoes include the time it takes to switch the purse contents, and inadvertently leaving behind items in the old purse. Quite a few things tend to accumulate in purses, particularly the purses of mothers of babies or toddlers, and purse changing can be an undesirable, time-consuming ordeal. Various solutions have not entirely solved these problems. Continuing problems include loss of items from open-mouth purses or purse inserts, increasing complexity of purses with interior pockets and flaps, inefficient means for fastening a cover to a foundation bag, and undesirable bulkiness or heaviness of the resulting handbag. The present invention solves these and other problems.
The present invention is a carry bag with a pouch insert and magnetic fasteners. The pouch is preferably inserted into one of many different types of bag covers. The carry bag of the present invention comprises: a) a three dimensional, generally rectangular-shaped, closable pouch that comprises six exterior faces: front and back, two ends, bottom, and top; b) a closure means in the top face of the pouch, preferably a zipper or drawstring closure; c) at least two magnetic fasteners; and d) a detachable carrying strap. One portion of each magnetic fastener is secured to each end face, or the front and back faces, of the pouch, and an opposite portion of each magnetic fastener is secured to the carrying strap. The portions of the magnetic fasteners on the carrying strap correspond to the magnetic portions on the pouch, so that a user can quickly and easily attach the carrying strap to the pouch, and then detach it from the pouch. Alternatively, the carry bag comprises the pouch and one or more interchangeable covers. The cover comprises an open, three dimensional, generally rectangular-shaped, cover compartment with four sides and a bottom. The cover compartment is of sufficient size to snugly accommodate the pouch. Each compartment comprises a magnetic fastener portion that corresponds to an opposite magnetic fastener portion on the pouch, so that the pouch without the detachable carrying strap can be quickly and easily inserted into, or detached from, the cover.